I am pleased to invite you to the public lecture based on the materials of pilot studies made throughout 2013-2014 by the Ukrainian Institute of Yoga and Yoga-Therapy and the Ukrainian Federation of Yoga.

Our objective was to study the way asanas and pranayamas of Yoga affect the organism of the practitioner, in particular, his cardiovascular system.

In the course of our research work we were using the contemporary methods of:

— Tonometry;

— ECG (electrocardiography);

— Doppler echocardiography;

— Rheography;

— Laser Doppler flowmetry.

In terms of the lecture we shall deliver the results and practical conclusions that may be interesting:

— for doctors;

— for those practicing Yoga;

— for instructors of fitness- and yoga-centers;

— for those interested in medicine, development, modern technologies.

The plan of the lecture:

Asanas and pranayamas – the stress effect.

The conditioning effect of asanas and pranayamas upon the cardiac conducting system. Rhythmogenesis, correction.

The backbending asanas within the set of measures taken for the heart muscle strengthening. The lusitropic (relaxing) effect.

The obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is the term used to denote the respiratory standstill in one’s sleep caused by upper airway collapse, up to its complete obstruction (blockade). The absence of breathing process lasting over 10 seconds activates the respiratory center and sends signals for activation of the strongest respiratory muscle – the diaphragm. For some period of time conditioned by the initial tone and the diaphragm “performance efficiency” the convulsive breathing moves are occurring, yet without inhale proper. The muscular tone of the diaphragm further increases and at some certain point the sleeping person manages to take a pant. After several breathing acts the muscular tone drops again, thus leading to the repeated apnea cycle. In case the number of breath-holdings augments up to 10-15 per hour, this shall result in sleep pattern disturbance, the occurrence of diurnal drowsiness, augmented headaches, memory impairment and metabolic disorders.

The yoga-therapeutic approach to restoration of the tone of pharyngeal muscles and the diaphragm comes as a unique method of treating the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. This is the theme that me as a representative of the Ukrainian Institute of Yoga and Yoga-Therapy have turned into the subject of my workshop that was delivered at the research-to-practice conference “The Current Issues of Theoretical and Practical Somnology in Ukraine. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Non-invasive and Invasive Pulmonary Ventilation” held within a framework of the 23rd International Exhibition “Public Health Services 2014”.

Olga Golovnya, Yoga-therapist, the instructor of Ukrainian Federation of Yoga, submitting her report at the International Symposium “The Issues of Biophysical Medicine” held by Bogomolets Institute of Physiology (Kiev, Ukraine).The scientific report “The Effect of Hyperkinesis in the Course of Assessing the Impact of Asanas and Pranayamas on Myocardium with the Help of Echocardiography” was based on the investigations pursued within the scope of the Ukrainian Institute of Yoga and Yoga Therapy research program.